Heineken rumoured to cut jobs in Krakow and move them to India

Poland | The spectre of mass redundancies is haunting the Polish city of Krakow, long a hub of shared services centres for international firms. As nothing is certain or confirmed, many locals fear that Heineken is at the forefront of job cuts, allegedly considering a reduction of up to 700 positions in its Krakow shared services centre. They could go to a new centre in India’s Hyderabad. The Krakow branch has been operating since 2012, serving the brewer’s global processes.

Heineken to acquire FIFCO’s beverage and retail business

The Netherlands | The seven central American countries with an estimated population of 52 million people have rarely been in the news in recent years, except when foreign media decided to report on its endemic violence and corruption stemming from organized crime and the drug trade. So, it was a piece of good news, highlighting the region’s business potential, that Heineken announced on 23 September, it will acquire the beverage and retail operations of Florida Ice and Farm Company (FIFCO) in a deal valued at about USD 3.2 billion in cash.

United Kingdom | The pub operator and brewer Greene King broke ground on a new, state-of-the-art brewery in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, in August, marking the start of a GBP 40 million (USD 54 million) construction project to build a more sustainable facility.

Budget shortfalls: CAMRA cancels 2026 beer festival

United Kingdom | CAMRA, the real ale enthusiasts’ group, cancelled Britain’s biggest beer festival amid an existential crisis as it launched a cost-cutting drive, The Guardian newspaper reported on 10 September.

Carlsberg is exploring an IPO for its Indian unit

Denmark | Carlsberg is reportedly evaluating a potential listing of its Indian operations, media reported on 16 September. The time seems to be right as Carlsberg India had a robust financial year 2024 with revenues of approximately INR 80 billion (USD 910 million). Results for its financial year 2025 (ending March 2025) are not available yet.

Brau Union at court: “We are dominated by Heineken”

Austria | Faced with a potential fine of billions of euros if found guilty of market power abuses, Dutch Heineken is trying to distance itself from its fully-owned Austrian subsidiary Brau Union. Representatives from both Heineken and Brau Union insisted at the Vienna cartel court on 8 September that the Austrian market leader can act autonomously and freely. Austrian media wonder: Is this plausible?

Pricey pints: Sales at Dublin’s Temple Bar pub group rise to EUR 33 million

Ireland | Owning a pub in Ireland must be lucrative. Or why would the hospitality group Hillbreak that operates one of the country’s most famous pubs, the Temple Bar in Dublin’s Temple Bar district, increase its revenue by 8 percent to EUR 33 million (USD 39 million) in the 12 months to the end of October 2024? That equals revenues of approximately USD 750,000 per week, Irish media reported on 8 September.

Diageo’s interim CEO calls some assumptions on Gen Z “bullshit”

United Kingdom | The single most important question to ask about the future of the drinks industry: are structural lifestyle changes to blame for the decline in sales or is it cyclical macroeconomic issues. So far beer and drinks industry leaders are adamant that the biggest challenges are “cyclical” – at least that’s what they stressed in their recent financial results. Now it was Nik Jhangiani’s turn, who succeeded Debra Crew as interim CEO of Diageo in July, to join the debate.

Belgium | A significant number of shares in AB-InBev's Belgian anchor holding Eugénie Patri Sébastien (EPS) was withdrawn in 2024. A generation gap between the Belgian shareholders is part of the reason for their departure. “The younger generations no longer drink alcohol. They have issues with a brewery,” explains the journalist Wolfgang Riepl in an article for the Belgian business magazine Trends (4 September). Add to their moral concerns about alcohol the brewer’s lacklustre share price and its dependence on organic growth after decades of spectacular takeovers and you can probably find more explanations for their departure.

AB-InBev investor de Mevius buys KTM sportscar firm

Austria | It must be a fun business: A group of motorsport enthusiasts, led by the Belgian industrialist family De Mevius – a major shareholder in AB-InBev – has taken over KTM Sportcar. It is a subsidiary of the motorcycle firm KTM, which produces the X-Bow sports cars. The insolvent parent company KTM was acquired by the Indian Bajaj Auto International Holdings in May.